In last night's Rangers-Astros game, Pudge Rodriguez broke the all-time record for games caught. But that wasn't the only notable achievement: Omar Vizquel tied Luis Aparicio for most hits by a native of Venezuela.
While most would agree that Pudge's record was a tougher nut to crack, being the Venezuelan hits leader is not nearly as narrow a feat as some may suspect. Indeed, Vizquel has outhit a pretty impressive group of people in outhitting his fellow countrymen. In addition to Aparicio, Vizquel has Andres Galarraga (2333 hits), Dave Concepcion (2326), Bobby Abreu (2011), Magglio Ordonez (1889), Ozzie Guillen (1764) and Tony Armas (1302) in his rear-view mirror, among others.
There's a debate out there about whether Vizquel is a legitimate Hall of Fame candidate, and I suspect that he'll get a lot more support from writers than he otherwise might have due to the perception that he was a little guy who made it in a steroid-fueled world. And that will hold true regardless of there likely being no way of knowing if he ever took steroids in his long career. Personally, I don't think he's a Hall of Famer, and I'll no doubt argue that he doesn't belong at some point.
But when I and others do, don't you dare mistake such arguments as disparagement of Omar Vizquel. He's been really really good for a really really long time, and this record is just further evidence of that.
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The argument favoring Vizquel's Hall of Fame candidacy should center less around the "little guy in a steroid-fueled world" schtick, and more around his awesome defense. The guy was consistently one of the best (and in his prime, the best) defenders in the game at a premium position for his entire 20+ year career. It's not like we're talking about David Eckstein. Think more along the lines of Ozzie Smith (or maybe Dave Concepcion, or heck, even Brooks Robinson is comparable). It's close, but I'd vote him in.
Agreed, Mike. I think that will be the tack most in favor of his candidacy should and will take. I think, however, that there will still be a large number people using him as their protest vote. After all, he's going to be on the ballot at the same time a whole heap of steroids users are (Clemens, Bonds, Sosa, etc.).
My thing on the defense is that, while it was excellent, it was not necessarily to the level of some of the other defense-heavy Hall of Famers that came before. Neyer or someone wrote this up within the last six months, but the upshot was that the Ozzie Smith comp was a nonstarter because Vizquel's defense was way closer to the group of guys behind him than it was to Ozzie's (and Ozzie learned to hit a little as his career went on too).
I think reasonable people will disagree on Vizquel, and that that's OK. I'm just not convinced that he's that much better than a Concepcion, however, and I don't think Concepcion was a Hall of Famer either.
True. Unfortunately*, it's so hard to accurately and objectively measure defensive contributions from games that occurred more than 10 years ago (and the advanced stats are far from perfect for current games). I don't doubt that Ozzie Smith and Robinson and Bench and Mazeroski and Clemente were some of the greatest fielders of all time, but it would sure would be fun to try to compare them to some of the more recent defensive whizzes. And for the record, I'd vote Concepcion in too. I guess I just have a thing for small bat, big glove shortstops like that.
*At least for obsessive stats geeks like me.
As to his defensive skills, I get to see him play pretty regularly, as he is the seasond backup to the Rangers 20 year old phenom, Elvis Andruss. He is the oldest non-pitcher (42) to ever take the field in a Rangers uniform, and, without checking the number on the back of his jersey, it's difficult to discern between him and Andruss, who is being touted as a ROY candidate. If this is what he has DETERIORATED to on the field, there is no doubt in my mind that his defensive skills are HOF worthy, especially when combined with the offense he has delivered over the years.
"There's no way of knowing if he ever took steroids."
Don't you know that if a mainstream writer ever "reads" this blog, they'll take that as an accusation?
What are you trying to do, get on television?
In my defense, I'm blogging from the 16th floor of an office building, not my basement . . .
I had the pleasure of watching Omar for 8 seasons in Cleveland. His range was amazing. He didn't have a gun of an arm but he always got the runner by a step. His fielding percentage is higher than any of the HOF shortstops including Ozzie. He also has out hit Smith, Rizzuto, Reese, Maranville, Aparicio and Tinker. He certainly deserves a serious look.
To bare-hand catch a ball and then throw it to first as soon as you can is a spectacular play. This play is a trademark of Omar. Does anyone know if any of the past Hall-of-Fame shortstops used this unique play?
Tom G.
Essex Jct, VT